Evangelical Obama fires up black Americans

Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama delivered a fiery sermon to black parents, warning that they must accept their own responsibilities by "putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour" and telling black children that growing up poor is no reason to get bad grades.

"No one has written your destiny for you," he said, directing his remarks to "all the other Barack Obamas out there" who might one day grow up to be president.

"Your destiny is in your hands and don't you forget that. That's what we have to teach all of our children! No excuses! No excuses!"

Mr Obama spoke for 45 minutes to an audience of several thousand mostly black men and women, clad in tuxedos and ball gowns on Friday. They had gathered in a ballroom of the New York Hilton to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the US's largest civil rights organisation.

He was one-part politician and one-part black preacher as he spoke in lilting cadences, his voice quiet at times, thundering at others. At one point, when his audience shouted back at him, he threw back his head and laughed, saying: "I've got an 'amen' corner back there."

As he urged blacks to take responsibility for themselves, he also spoke of societal ills  high unemployment, the housing and energy crises  that have created the conditions for black joblessness. He said the legacy of the Jim Crow era was still felt, albeit in different ways today.

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"Make no mistake: the pain of discrimination is still felt in America," Mr Obama said, by African-American women who are paid less for the same work as white men, by Latinos "made to feel unwelcome", by Muslim Americans "viewed with suspicion" and by "our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights".

Aides said he intended to make the case for personal responsibility a frequent theme of his presidency but he also wanted to send a message to black parents, and especially to black children.

"They might think they've got a pretty jump shot or a pretty good flow," Mr Obama said, "but our kids can't all aspire to be LeBron or Lil Wayne. I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be president of the United States of America."

He spoke directly about his own upbringing, crediting his white mother with setting him straight. He departed from his text to talk about how life might have turned out had she not. "When I drive through Harlem and I drive through the South Side of Chicago and I see young men on the corners," he said, "I say, there but for the grace of God go I."

It was an unusual moment for a president who has sought to transcend race and has only reluctantly embraced his unique place in history.

Six months into his presidency, Mr Obama has seemed more comfortable embracing his identity as the first black American president overseas than at home, as was the case during his trip to Ghana last week, when he declared: "I have the blood of Africa within me."